lucetilogs | Rabbit--I mean, Lavi--hunting!

Who: Allen and Sheena
What: Looking for Lavi
When: Early morning the day after Lavi's capture, and spans the few days after that.
Where: All over Luceti. Though, erm, mostly around the Malnosso base, I would assume.
Summary: Well, Lavi got kidnapped, so Allen and Sheena decide to look for him. They encounter more trouble than they would expect at the Malnosso base. No, that's a lie. They expected the trouble. It just sounds more dramatic this way.
Rating: G-PG?

Allen awoke in the early hours of the morning, anxious and not at all rested. He had tossed and turned all night, sleeping only after forcing himself, knowing from experience that it would be idiocy -- if not plain suicide -- to go otherwise. Upon waking to sunlight, however, he found it decidedly more difficult to sleep, and got up, pacing and irritated as he waited for stores to open.

And once they did, Allen was there, grabbing a large bundle of food and two coats -- one for Lavi; he knew Sheena had one already -- before lugging everything over to the house next door, calming himself only barely enough to keep his knocking light.

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"I... I hope so." Allen bit his lip, gaze trained to the ground. Testing Lavi's hammer seemed like a much better alternative to testing his body. It seemed almost unlikely that the Malnosso would give him such a light treatment, but... perhaps just for now. Perhaps just until they could rescue him. "It's... an interesting hammer. I still don't exactly know how it works, but it can grow really huge, and he has... seals... that control the elements."

A smile graced his lips as he thought about Lavi, remembering. How many times had that hammer protected him, now? How many times would he have died already, if not for Lavi and his quit wits, Lavi and his sharp eyes--eye?

That, however, worried him. The hammer, while an Innocence, while under Lavi's control, was not a part of his body. Would the Malnosso, who, as far as they could tell, did not even blink an eye to see people hurt or die, really stop at playing with a tool?

Sheena wasn't listening to him anymore. She could hear his footsteps getting further away, and he was saying something about the hammer...but she couldn't follow him. Even if she wanted to, she was unable to make herself move.

Her thoughts were...back there. Back with the Malnosso, in a place as dark and as cold as this cave was, with about as much hope of escaping. A sickening thought worked its way into her mind:

What if she'd never really left them?
Suppose it was all some experiment still, some kind of...elaborate illusion, to see how she would react? To see how long it would take her to figure out the truth? ...Oh, no...that was it, that was what must really be...

She didn't even notice as she sank to her knees on the cave floor, shaking and shivering."

Allen stopped when he couldn't hear the footsteps following, couldn't feel Sheena's presence beside him. Worried, he turned, peering into the darkness for any sign of her, slowly heading back so he wouldn't miss seeing. He knew it was hard for her to go there; how could it not be? And he had seen her stop earlier already...

"Sheena..." Allen let out a sigh of relief when he saw her, a long breath he had not realized that he had been holding. Though he wanted to go on, he wanted more to comfort her, dropping to his knees beside her, hesitating one moment before pulling her into his arms. For a moment, Lenalee's face swam in his mind, and he shook his head, patting her awkwardly on the back. "Sheena, what's wrong?"

It took her a long time to realize it was Allen there, and not someone coming after her again. She didn't even try to push him away, this time, though. Instead, she just shut her eyes, not even caring that she couldn't control herself.

"Th-that's it, isn't it?" she asked, voice starting to break. "I never r-really got out...this is s-still part of the experiment." She shook her head; the part of her that didn't like to break down in front of other people was losing the fight. "I-it isn't...real."

"That's not true!" Allen hugged her more tightly, holding her against him for a moment before pulling back slightly, one hand going gently, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "This is real, all of it. I'm real. This place is real. All of this is real..."

Allen half-closed his eyes, lightly bumping his forehead against Sheena's for a moment. "I won't let them take you again."

She wanted to believe him. Desperately. It needed to be real, or...there wouldn't be a point anymore.

It seemed like she was snapping out of it, though she didn't make any move to support herself, still leaning against him completely. The shaking hadn't stopped, either, but her thoughts started to come back under her control.

"...I know you can't really promise that," she whispered, finally, "but I appreciate it." She sighed quietly. "I've spent all this time thinking I could...face this down, and now when I have to, I can't. ...I'm so sorry."

That was what she couldn't stand the most, that she was letting how she felt get in the way of them getting to Lavi. It was foolish and stupid and against everything she'd learned. And she couldn't stop herself from it anyway.

"It's not an easy thing to face..." Allen kept his arms around her, waiting until she was ready to pull away. It would be like asking him to go back to the Ark with all its horrors, he knew, but worse. They were winning, after all, though he supposed it couldn't really be called "winning" after the casualties they may have suffered. But he had been unharmed, in the end; only him.

"I'll protect you," he murmured, telling himself as much as Sheena. "I will."

She knew he wanted to, but couldn't completely promise that, either. She also wondered if he wasn't, in some way, talking to a person other than her...even if that person wasn't exactly there, at the moment.

Slowly, she pulled away from him, but she kept her eyes on the ground. "Just because it isn't easy doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to do it," she muttered, angry with herself. "I-I...I shouldn't be this weak. I'm holding you up, falling apart for no reason."

"That's not true." Allen shook his head, a soft sigh on his lips, though not of impatience. It was late and they were both tired, he knew, even if he wanted to press on. Exhaustion made everything worse, especially fear and despair.

After a short moment's hesitation, Allen sat and tugged at Sheena's sleeve, patting the ground beside him. "Let's take a break. We should get some rest before moving on..."

It was because of her that they were stopping. Sheena knew that, but this time didn't say anything about it, just sitting down silently beside Allen instead. Stopping now meant getting no closer to the Malnosso, and at the moment that was perfectly fine with her.

She got out a little food from her bag, enough to last her for a while. By the time she finished - and after she spent a decent amount of time in silent awe at the way Allen ate, if he did - her traveling companion would probably find her asleep, still sitting up.

Oh, Allen ate, all right, and at his usual, insane pace. For once, he didn't eat that much... for him, at least. There was no telling how long the road was, and the prospect of future starvation was scary enough a fate to convince him to eat only in moderation.

After his meal, he stretched, a grand display, for fear that Sheena may think their break her fault.

"Whew, I'm tired!" came the declaration. "Good night, Sheena."

Of course, she was already asleep, so there was no way she could answer him.

Rabbit--I mean, Lavi--hunting!

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